


Say it With a Smile

by kathiann



Series: Red Memories Series [2]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Romance, Team, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-14
Updated: 2009-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 22,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathiann/pseuds/kathiann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Red Memories, if you have not read it, this will not make sense. Someone is stalking the CBI, who is it and what do they want?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had meant to post this after I finished my Ethics paper, but it is almost 2:00 am, and I just realized that I still have one more page to write, and I need a distraction, so I am going to post this now :) This is the sequel to Red Memories, and picks up where it left off. If you have not read it, STOP NOW, and go and read it. This will make very little sense if you do not read Red Memories first. A big thanks to every one who read Red Memories, and didn't hunt me down to post a sequel right away. And as always to Ebony10 for being my beta, and for suggesting the title to this one.

The ride back to CBI head quarters was done in silence. It seemed that neither of them wanted to admit what had happened back in the words. Lisbon for her part was slightly embarrassed that she let herself get so carried away. And now that she had, she had to go back to work and pretend that nothing had changed, that nothing had happened.

They pulled into the yard at the CBI headquarters, where Lisbon parked the car. They sat for a few minutes with the silence stretching, neither wanting to go inside. They knew that the second they stepped out of the car things would have to go back to the way they were before Jane's accident, before they had admitted how much they really cared for each other.

"We should go inside. I'm sure the team will want to know that you have your memory back." Lisbon said with a sigh, turning to open her door.

"Teresa, wait." Jane said, placing a hand on her leg to stop her.

"Jane, you know you can't call me that anymore. Please, just...please, Jane." He could hear the despair in her voice, but knew that what he needed to say was important.

"Just because we are going to go in there and pretend that nothing happened doesn't mean that nothing did. You know I'll always care about you no matter what happens, right?" He desperately needed her assurance. He didn't know why—just that he did.

"Yes, Patrick." She didn't think she would ever get used to hearing his name come out of her mouth that way. "I do." She reached down and gave the hand that was still on her leg a squeeze. Then they both got out of the car and went inside of the building.

Lisbon was not surprised to see Minelli standing in the bullpen with the rest of the team when they walked in.

"Well, look how finally decided to join us!" He exclaimed, turning towards them. "We have a crazy serial killer on the loose, threatening my employees, and you two are off on a field trip." He was pacing slightly, clearly agitated.

"Sorry, sir." Lisbon said before launching into the explanation of why they had left. "We had to make sure that Jane remembered everything that had gone one before we told him about the letter. I figured it would be easier to show him the letter if he remembered something about Red John first."

"And did it work?" Minelli was getting impatient. Despite his tough exterior, he really did care about the people who were under him—not that he would ever tell them that.

"Yes, it did, Virgil. I remembered everything. No worries there." Jane answered him this time. He had gone over to his sofa to sit while Minelli had been talking.

"Great!" he said, turning to Lisbon. "I expect you to fix this. Can't have members of the CBI's best team being threatened by serial killers." He said before walking away.

Lisbon covered her face with her hands and groaned. This was not going to be easy.

"What are we going to do now?" Asked Van Pelt, clearly concerned about her boss and the consultant.

"Why don't we write Red John a letter? Tell him Jane remembers and to leave Lisbon alone." Said Cho, completely serious.

"Yeah, we're just going to write Red John a letter because we know where he lives so it'll be no problem getting it delivered." Rigsby scoffed back at him. "I think we need to get Jane out in the field with him acting like his normal self, not like the jerk he was 15 years ago." He sat back in his chair like that was the solution to all of the problems.

Lisbon just looked at the team and shook her head. Without saying anything she turned and walked to her office. The needed to figure out a way to keep Red John away from both her and Jane, but they could do that later. Right now she just wanted to forget that there was a problem. She sat at her desk and laid her head in her arms on top of the desk. It was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished the Ethics paper that prompted me to post the first chapter of this, so to celebrate, i am going to post the second chapter. I figure, I have six chapters ready to go, and five more final assignment to do, this story will get posted in no time :) Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, sorry about the mix up with chapter 1 for all of you who read that before I fixed it. And as always, thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta and my sounding board.

"So, Jane, what do we need to do to keep that psycho away from Lisbon?" asked Rigsby after Lisbon had gone off to her office.

"Jane's the one who needs to do things." Cho said in his usual deadpan. Van Pelt glared at him. "What? He's the one that got us into this mess."

"Cho's right," Jane said. He was staring off into space, looking at nothing in particular. Just thinking. He didn't want to tell the team that his memory had been back for awhile now. It just didn't seem necessary. "Now that I remember, I suppose that I'll just go back to living the way I did before. Staying at my own house, sleeping at work, harassing suspects in my own special way." He was grinning as he said it, but the rest of them could tell that he was not nearly as happy about it as he was making out to be.

"Is there anything we can do?" Van Pelt asked in a concerned voice.

"No. Well, just treat me the way you did before the accident." With that last comment, he lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes. He didn't want to think that tonight he would be going back to his house, alone, to face that sneer on the wall. The thought that Teresa—no, Lisbon, he corrected himself in his thoughts—had seen it, too, was unsettling. What had she thought when she saw that smiley face still painted on his wall? He tried not to think about it, instead focusing on the voices of the team chatting quietly nearby and hoping that the gentle tones would help lull him to sleep.

Rigsby looked over at the sleeping man and thought for a minute. "Do you think something happened between them when they were out today?" He asked to no one specific.

"What do you mean?" Asked Cho, looking up from his book.

"When they came back the boss looked sad, which is weird, because you would think that she would be relieved that Jane had remembered, or scared because Red John seems to be targeting her. But she was neither."

"I think that she's just masking her worry. You know she cares about Jane, telling him had to be one of the hardest things she's ever had to do." Van Pelt said curtly. It was really none of their business how Lisbon was acting as long as she was doing her job. If she allowed herself to care, she knew she too would fall apart.

It was the silence that woke him up, the lack of noise. When he opened his eyes he was surprised to see that the offices were dark and that there was no light coming from outside. He looked at his watch and was also surprised to see it was after 8:00. He had slept a lot longer than he had planed. Not that he had planned to fall asleep. He sat up and looked around. He was thinking about calling Lisbon to see if he could come and get his stuff tonight, but noticed that the light in her office was still on.

"Hey, Lisbon, why are you still here?" Jane asked, poking his head in her office.

"Just finishing up some work," she said, not looking up from the open file on her desk. She didn't want to look at him for fear that he would be able to tell that she had no desire to go home to her empty apartment. There was no one to watch TV crime shows with and make fun of all of the things that they got wrong. She didn't want him to know that she was thinking of getting a cat, something that would be there for her when she got home from a long day at work. It would be easier than a roommate and her neighbor could look after the pet when she was out of town. Lisbon finally realized that Jane was still standing in the doorway so she looked up at him. "Did you need something?"

"I need to get my things from your apartment. Can I follow you home tonight or do you want to bring them into work tomorrow?" He was standing just inside the door and Lisbon was having a hard time reading the expression on his face.

"Um, sure, let's do it tonight." She answered, closing the file on the desk and grabbing her bag.

He followed her home. She drove slower than he wanted to, but he didn't want to get there before she did. When they got to her apartment, she parked in the parking lot and Jane parked on the street. He caught up to her just as she was opening the door. She looked tired and he knew that part of that was his fault. He waited until they got inside before placing his hands on her shoulders and massaging them lightly.

"Jane." She said as if in warning.

"Just relax. You're way too tense." He rubbed her shoulders for a few more minutes, until finally her muscles seemed to relax. He bent down slightly and kissed the top of her head.

"You know that this afternoon was a onetime thing, right?" She asked quietly.

"I know." He answered just as quietly. He had stopped rubbing her shoulders and now just held her closely.

"Then let's make sure it doesn't happen again." She whispered, turning around and pressing her lips to his.

Lisbon smiled as she woke up. It was early and her alarm hadn't gone off yet, but she felt very rested. She hadn't slept that well in ages. She stretched and rolled over. She noticed the note that was placed on the pillow next to her and smiled. She read it over and placed it in the drawer by her bed. She turned off her alarm and got up. She wasn't going to need it today. She was still smiling as she left the house and thought of the note. Who would have guessed that one little line could mean so much?

 _Teresa,_  
It was never just a onetime thing.  
Patrick


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would some one like to explain to me why it took me a week to write a ten page ethics paper, but a 12 page paper on my life plan only takes my all of four hours put together to write? I suppose it's because it's like writing fanfic, I think about what i want to happen, and then just let my fingers move :) As promised, my life plan is done, and here it the third chapter. next chapter when I am done with the presentation (tomorrow nor Sunday). Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to Ebony10 for being my beta.

Lisbon walked out her front door, determined not to let anything ruin her good mood. She had turned to lock her door and make sure the deadbolt was on when she heard her neighbor calling her.

"Teresa! Oh Teresa!" Lisbon turned to see her elderly neighbor coming toward her.

"Good morning, Mrs. Fielding. How are you this morning?" Lisbon asked. She liked her neighbor. She was always pleasant with her and today even more so.

"Hello, dear. Did the young gentleman that was staying with you leave? I didn't see him this morning." Nice as she was, Mrs. Fielding was a little bit of a busybody.

"His place was done being renovated so he went back home. He was only here temporarily." Lisbon started to walk toward her car. She wanted to get a cup of coffee before work.

"Oh, dear, I wanted to ask you a favor. I'm going out of town next week to visit my sister in Florida. Can you bring my mail in and water my plants?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. Fielding. I still have that key from the last time you went to visit your sister." Lisbon held up her key ring as proof.

"Oh, thank you. I'll let you know when I'm leaving for sure. You have a good day at work." Mrs. Fielding walked back to her apartment and Lisbon went to her car. She stopped by Starbucks to pick up her favorite coffee and, as an afterthought, Jane's favorite tea. She was almost to work when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and groaned. It was too nice a day for Minelli to call her this early.

"Lisbon," she answered the phone and listened for a while. "No, he's at his own house. Didn't we tell you he got his memory back?" Another pause "I'll call him and make sure he's on his way. Can you tell me what this is about?" She waited for a minute before pulling the phone away from her ear to look at it. He had hung up on her. Sighing she pressed speed dial 2 on her phone, hoping that Jane would actually answer.

"Lisbon, lovely to hear from you this morning!" Jane said when he answered his phone.

Lisbon couldn't help smiling slightly at the cheerful sound of his voice "Minelli wanted me to make sure you were going to be to work on time this morning. Apparently we have an important case, although he wouldn't tell me what it was about over the phone."

"I suppose that means I'll have to make my tea at work instead of picking it up."

"I already got you one," Lisbon responded. She pulled into the gate at the CBI and parked. "Just get here soon, ok?"

"Sure thing," he said, but his voice sounded closer than it should have. Lisbon got out of her car and saw Jane standing next to it. She hung up her phone and smiled at him. "Tea?" she asked holding up the cup she had gotten for him.

"It's like you're a mind reader." He laughed, taking it from her. "Should we go in and see what California's finest residents have done to garner our attention today?"

Lisbon nodded and they walked into the building together. Jane looked back over his shoulder as they entered the building and noticed a man across the street taking pictures. He didn't think anything of it though. It was a very nice building.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the reviews. And a big thanks to Ebony 10 for being my beta.

"It's about time you two got here." Minelli said as Lisbon and Jane walked into the bullpen. "Why do I feel like I keep saying that? Oh, right, because I do! Lisbon, I need to talk to you." He started walking towards his office. Lisbon looked at him and waited a few minutes before following him. He was in a sour mood this morning. She hoped that Jane hadn't done anything already today. It was too early for that. Once they got to his office he waited until she was inside to shut the door and begin speaking to her.

"Local cops got a call about 7:30 this morning. A man returning home from a business trip found his wife murdered on their bed. Took the cops about an hour to realize what they had and another hour for you guys to finally show up at work." He handed her a file.

"Why are we working the case?" Lisbon asked as she opened the file. The question died on her tongue as she looked at the first picture. It was not of the victim as was the common practice, but of a bloody smiley face drawn on a wall. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"Don't have to go very far. It's right here in town." Minelli said with his usual gruffness. "In light of the note that was received by Jane yesterday, I want you to keep him on an extra short leash on this one. Don't let him run all over the place like he usually does."

Lisbon was still looking at the file, but closed it and looked back at her boss. "I'll do my best, but you know how Jane is when Red John is involved, sir. He doesn't listen most of the time and even less when Red John is involved."

"I don't want to hear any complaints about him from this case. So whatever he does, keep it from reaching my ears."

"Can do." Lisbon said and left the office. She took her time walking back to the bullpen, not wanting to have to share this particularly horrible case with the rest of the team, but knowing that it would only be worse if she put it off. The second she got back to the team, Jane knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" He was clearly concerned, but tried to keep it hidden by his grin and relaxed position on his sofa.

"We've got a Red John case." She decided that the direct approach was the best one. "It's a local one. Call came into the local PD about two hours ago. Let's get a move on."

They rode in silence to the crime scene, no one really wanting to say anything. They were all hoping that this was just a copy cat, like with the golfer's wife, but knew that was probably not the case.

The neighborhood where the murder took place looked like pretty much every other middle class neighborhood. The homes were not new, but they weren't particularly old either. It was obvious by the swarms of police which house was the murder site.

"Rigsby, Cho, go talk with the neighbors. See if they saw anything. Van Pelt, get with the local cops. Talk to the first one on scene. I want to know everything they do at this point. Jane, you come with me. We're going to talk to the husband, and then we'll go inside." Lisbon quickly gave orders as they got out of the car, not wanting to spend any more time there than necessary. The team dispersed, each going about their assigned tasks. Lisbon waited until the rest of the team left before she turned to Jane and in a low voice said "Please don't go wondering off. I don't want you to cause any trouble."

Jane simply smiled at her and said "It wouldn't be me if I didn't make trouble." Lisbon rolled her eyes and they made their way into the house. It was easy to pick out the husband among all of the police officers and crime scene investigators. He was sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. While he was not crying now, it was obvious that he had been and could start up again at a moment's notice.

"Mr. Carmichael?" Lisbon asked as the approached the man on the sofa. "I'm Teresa Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane. We're with the CBI. I know this is a tough time for you, but we'd like to ask you a few questions if you are feeling up to it."

"I just can't believe it. I just came home and there was this face and she was lying there and there was blood everywhere." He looked like he was going to cry again and Lisbon gestured to the victim advocate from the police department to come over.

She handed her the card "Can you have him give us a call when he can answer questions, please?" She asked him quietly. The advocate moved to sit next to Mr. Carmichael and began to try to comfort him as Jane and Lisbon moved out into the hall.

"Are you ready for this, Jane?" Lisbon asked quietly, staring down the hall towards the bedroom. She had no desire to go and see the murder scene. She had seen the same thing before and had never gotten used to it. She could only imagine what it was like for Jane. Jane looked grimly at her and nodded.

When they got to the bedroom, Lisbon could only bear to look at the ghastly smiley face for a few seconds before turning her head. She looked around at the other items in the room, at the body, anything but the face on the wall. It seemed, however, that the only thing that Jane could look at was that face. It happened every time he saw another one on the wall—he flashed back to the first time he had seen the smiley face painted the wall of his house.

He finally looked away when Lisbon spoke to him. "Looks like the real thing, doesn't it? What do you think?"

"It definitely looks like it." He said in a quiet voice.

"Excuse me, Agent Lisbon?" Asked one of the crime scene processors. "We found this on the bed next to the victim. It's addressed to your team." He held out a large manila envelope that had "CBI Serious Crimes Unit" written in large letters on the front.

Putting on a pair of gloves, Lisbon took the envelope from him and turned it over. It was not sealed so she reached in and pulled out the only thing in it—an 8x10 piece of paper. She turned it over and saw that it was a picture. Jane was looking over her shoulder and she felt him tense at the same time that she gasped. It was a far-off shot through a car window. From this picture it was impossible to tell what type of car it was, but it was obvious that there were two people in the front—a man with blond hair and a brunette woman.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who reviewed this one, and to Ebony10 for being my beta. Update will keep coming as long as I have stuff written, after that you are at the mercy of my imagination and my fingers.

"Maybe it's a copy cat. He's never left a letter to the cops at the crime scene before, has he?" Cho asked. The team was back at the office and were all sitting at their desks. Lisbon was leaning up against Jane's rarely used one and he was sitting on his couch as usual.

"It wasn't a letter. It was a picture. Was it possible to tell who was in the picture?" Van Pelt asked. They were all thrown a little by the appearance of the photo at the crime scene. The fact that it had been addressed to the team was very unusual. It was known that Red John occasionally left personal messages to the families of his victims, but he had never left anything addressed to the cops before.

"The husband says it wasn't the wife. She had red hair and the woman in the picture was a brunette." Rigsby said for the first time.

Lisbon and Jane had remained silent. They knew who was in the picture and neither of them was going to say anything about it. "We sent it off to be processed. The crime lab should be able to tell us if they can clean the picture up enough to get an image of the faces. In the mean time, let's keep working this case as if it was a regular Red John case. Maybe he's changed his tactics." Lisbon paused for a minute. She didn't want to say what she was thinking, but did anyway. "Maybe he's telling us who his next victim is going to be. We know he watches his victims before killing them. That's how he knows that there's not going to be anyone else there."

Only after finishing her statement did she look over at Jane. He had the same look on his face that he had at the crime scene. She couldn't remember the last time he looked so somber. "What do you think it is, Jane?"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm still thinking about it. I'll let you know when I figure it out." Lisbon doubted that, but didn't say anything about it.

"Rigsby, go over past crime scene information and evidence. Maybe he's done something like this before and we just missed it. Cho and Van Pelt, look at the copy cat angle. Check to see if the victim had any enemies. Go to her work. Check with her friends. The husband said she went to the gym regularly—check there." The team got up and started going about their assigned tasks. Lisbon looked around to make sure that they were all working and went into her office.

She had just shut the door and hadn't even had a chance to sit down when Jane came in. "It's not a copy cat."

"I know that, but how am I going to tell the team that? 'I know it's not a copy cat because the woman in the picture is me and the man is Jane and Red John is just taunting Jane, telling him that he still needs to straighten up and remember the lesson he was taught when his wife was killed'!" Lisbon was trying not to raise her voice. The office afforded them some privacy, but it was just a glorified cubical with a door. It was still open on the top. The sound was known to filter out. "I am such an idiot!" She sat down hard in her chair and scrubbed her hands across her face. She heard Jane shutting the blinds to her office and didn't even care. She didn't look up until she felt him behind her.

"Jane, what are you doing?" She asked when she felt his hands on her shoulders.

"You need to relax. There is nothing we can do about it right now. You've assigned all of the tasks that need to be done. Right now all we're doing is waiting. You just need to relax and take it easy." He kept rubbing her shoulders until he felt her relax. He moved her hair off of her back and started massaging her neck, creeping lower down on her back. "You need to get more sleep." He whispered in her ear.

"Look who's talking. When was the last time you got a good night's sleep since you remembered what happened?" She asked, closing her eyes and enjoying the pleasure she was receiving from his ministrations.

"Last night." He whispered again and gently pressed a kiss to her temple. Her breath hitched in her throat at the gentle touch of his lips. She had promised herself she wouldn't think of last night or of the day before that or the month before that. She had promised herself she wouldn't think of any of the things that had happened since that horrible day that the cops showed up at the CBI headquarters and said that Jane had been in an accident.

She turned her head to tell him to stop and was surprised to find his lips waiting for her. She hated that she was so powerless towards him and felt herself responding to the touch of his lips. She felt him trying to deepen the kiss and forced herself to pull away and stand up.

"We have to stop doing this, Jane. It's not ok. There's a serial killer taunting us. He's got pictures of us doing who knows what who knows where. We have to keep our relationship strictly professional." She had moved to the other side of the small room to try to keep as much distance between them as possible.

"I'm pretty sure we can figure out where the pictures were taken. And for all we know it could be someone else in those pictures." He tried to smile at her, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"I've known you for too long to believe that." Lisbon said, taking another step away from him as he took one towards her.

"Teresa-"

"Don't call me that."

"Fine. Lisbon. I have let him dictate my life for almost six years now. Everything I have done is directly related to him. Every step I have made—that is, up until a month ago when I woke up in that hospital bed and saw the most beautiful woman staring at me with the most concerned look on her face. A look that said I love you." He took another step towards her and this time Lisbon didn't counter the move.

She opened her mouth to speak when there was a knock on the door. "Come In!" she called.

Van Pelt stuck her head in the door, "Hey, boss, the crime lab is done with the photo if you want to read the report." She looked between Lisbon and Jane but didn't say anything about the tension that Lisbon was sure was evident in the air.

"They're done already? We'll be right out." Lisbon looked at Jane one more time as Van Pelt left, leaving the door open. "We'll talk about this later." She said quietly and left.

Jane sighed, this was getting them nowhere—the constant interruptions, the constant denial... but now was not the time to worry about that. He had to go out and see what they could tell from the photo. He pasted a smile on his face to hide the sadness and walked out of Lisbon's office, shutting the door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planed on posting this right now, but strawberries were on sale, and we're out of jam, so I'll be making jam and psycho analyzing myself all night, I need to find out what my brand of crazy is. Thanks to every one who reviewed and to Ebony 10 for the beta.

"Tell me what we've got guys. How could they be done with the photo already?" Lisbon got straight down to business when she came into the bullpen.

"There was nothing they could do. They put a rush on the picture to see if they could clear it up, but nothing would work." Van Pelt said, not looking at Jane who was standing right next to Lisbon.

"What do you mean they couldn't clear it up?" Lisbon couldn't believe it. Van Pelt wasn't the type to lie to protect anyone.

"It would appear that the photo was altered so that we couldn't clear up the faces." Rigsby broke in. They had all read the report before Van Pelt went to get Lisbon. There had been so much tension in the office since the day that letter from Red John showed up for Jane that none of them wanted to go into her office without knowing exactly what it said.

"There has to be something they can do. Did they try all of the software that's out there?" Lisbon asked in disbelief. Inside however she was secretly happy. There would be no need for the team to find out who was in the picture after all.

"Not even Abby from NCIS would be able to unscramble this picture, boss." Cho said.

"Dude, that's just a TV show. She's not real." Rigsby said to Cho in a mock whisper.

"I'm just saying, even if she were real, she wouldn't be able to fix this picture." Cho looked back at Lisbon. "Sorry, boss."

"So what you're saying is that Red John—if this is Red John—is leaving us bread crumbs and we can't figure it out? The picture could be of his next victim and we can't figure out who it is?" She was going for angry and she was pulling it off. She couldn't let, didn't want, the team to know who was in that picture. "Let me know when you have something we can use. I'm going back to the crime scene. Jane, come with me."

She sighed deeply and turned to head back to her office to get her coat. Jane just stood in the doorway looking at the team. He wanted to give words of encouragement to them, but knew there was nothing he could say that could alleviate the stress of having the boss tell you that you weren't helping the case. He was half-tempted to tell the team that it was him and Lisbon in the photo, but knew that it would only cause more harm than good. He didn't think Lisbon would appreciate him telling them either.

"Let's go, Jane." Lisbon said, pulling on his arm on the way to the elevator. Jane waited until they were out of the building and in her car before he said anything.

"You should tell the team about the photo. It's killing them, thinking that he's telling us who the next victim is and they don't know. If we tell them that it's us in the picture, then they'll stop worrying about Red John killing another innocent victim."

"What? So they can worry about him killing someone close to them, someone they know? I can't do that, Jane. I can't cause that type of pain. I'd rather them think that it's someone that they don't know."

He decided not to push the matter further with her right now. She was mad and stressed. Pushing her would just driver her further away. He looked out the window and noticed that they were heading in the wrong direction. "Um, T-uh, Lisbon, where are we going?" He had a good idea, but wanted her to say it.

"I told you. We're going to the crime scene." She looked over at him and almost smiled. "I just never said which crime scene." She pulled off the freeway and Jane realized that he was right—he did know where they were headed. "I need you to use your 'special' talents to see if you can find anything in the woods. He was here, watching us. We need to see if he left anything that can give us a clue, any clue."

"Like what?" Jane asked, getting out of the car and standing next to it.

"I don't know, Jane. You're the psychic. You tell me." She spat at him.

"You know I'm not actually psychic, my dear, just very observant." He called out to her as she walked away from the car and into the tree line. Jane just shook his head. He didn't think they were going to find anything, but if it was going to make her feel better the least he could do was look.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this toke so long to update. I have been busy, what with finales and work and kids and all. That and I've had this other story that will just not leave me alone that I have been writing. Thanks for everyone who reviewed and all that jazz. And to Ebony10 for being my beta, it's not easy, but she manages to work through it anyway :)

They had been looking through the trees at the edge of the parking lot for hours now. They had received calls from the coroner saying that the preliminary findings were pretty much what they had expected—it looked like a typical Red John case. The coroner had mentioned that it would be at least a few days before they knew for sure. They had gotten a call from Van Pelt, saying that she and Cho had checked out the victim's work (a local supermarket) and had found that she was loved by everyone. According to her best friend and husband, she had no enemies, hadn't been acting oddly lately, and in general just got along with everyone.

Jane had long since given up really looking for any "evidence" and was strolling slowly through the woods, occasionally yelling in Lisbon's direction to make sure that he still knew where she was. She might be the one with the gun and the ability to tackle suspects twice her size, but the caveman in him still wanted to protect her.

"Lisbon!" He called when they had been there for three hours and had not found anything. "We aren't going to find anything here. We should just go back to the office and tell the rest of the team to go home." He walked towards the car and waited for her to come out of the woods.

"I know, but I can't help feeling like we should have noticed. I mean, I thought that we were alone. You thought that we were alone. And he was watching us. Who knows how much he saw? How did he know we were going to be here? Was he following us?" She was working herself into a frenzy. Jane walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"You know, Teresa—" She tried to pull away from him when he used her first name. He ignored that and began again. "Teresa, I don't think either of us were thinking about anything at the time that the picture was taken. Well, maybe _one_ thing." He smirked at her. He shouldn't be enjoying this, but he was. As if to prove to her that there was nothing to fear out here in this small secluded park in what was quickly becoming his favorite parking lot (who knew you could have a favorite parking lot?), he pulled her to him and placed a passionate kiss on her lips.

She had just started kissing him back, despite her inner voice telling her it wasn't a good idea to keep kissing him, when the bleating of her cell phone caused her to leap away from him. Panting slightly, she answered the phone and hoped the person on the other end wouldn't notice her breathlessness.

"Hey, boss." Cho answered when she picked up the phone. "We're ordering dinner. Do you want us to get you any?"

She was glad that it was Cho who had called and not one of the other team members. He wouldn't mention it if he heard something off in her voice. "Why don't you guys go home for the night? We're not going to get anything done staying up all night."

"Boss? Are you sure? We just got this case." His voice would have sounded confused to someone who didn't know him.

"We've been tracking Red John for the past 10 years. If we haven't caught a break before, we're not going to catch one tonight. Go home. Get a good night's sleep. We'll regroup in the morning and review the case." She looked at Jane who had raised an eyebrow at her when she told Cho to go home. She walked around to the other side of the car and got in.

"Whatever you say, boss." Cho said, hanging up.

"Sending them home, huh?" Jane asked with a smug I-told-you-so look on his face. He was sitting in the car with her now, waiting for her to start it and go.

"Yes, there's no reason for them to stick around. We both know it's Red John and that staying up all night isn't going to make some key piece of evidence magically appear. They should go home and get some sleep. Come to work tomorrow with fresh minds." She sighed heavily, finally starting her car and driving off.

"But we're going back to the office to sit up all night reviewing old Red John case files. To see if something was missed." It wasn't a question—more of an observation.

"I don't think either of us would sleep tonight if we tried." She turned the radio on (a way of signaling the end of the conversation) and drove back towards the city.

"What did Lisbon say? Do they want us to get them something?" Van Pelt asked, looking over at him from her desk.

"She said we should go home and sleep." Cho said, throwing his pen onto the desk. He hadn't been using it really. It was a nervous habit of his—holding a pen.

"She's kidding, right? We can't go home. Red John just committed another murder, changed his MO slightly, and she wants us to go home?" She couldn't believe it.

"I'm staying. I know if we look over the evidence one more time we can find something we missed. I'm still not over the copycat angle. Then we might have a chance of catching the guy. We've had copycats before. It'll happen again. Maybe this is one of them." Rigsby was annoyed at the thought that the boss wanted them to give up.

"So, salads and sandwiches for both her and Jane?" Van Pelt asked, picking up the phone to call the order in to the deli down the street.

"Yeah, sounds good." Cho responded, picking up his pen again and turning back to the file on his desk.

The food had just been delivered when Lisbon and Jane walked into the bullpen at the CBI headquarters.

"I thought I told you guys to go home for the night. What do you plan on doing here tonight?" She asked in disbelief. She was sure it was a mutiny. None of them were listening to her now.

"We're going to do the same thing you're going to do, boss. We're going to find Red John before he kills again." Rigsby said, looking up from the case file he had been looking at. "We got you both sandwiches and salads." He looked back down at the file.

"Unbelievable. You have all been spending way too much time with Jane." She was trying to act mad, but couldn't keep the smile off her face. She was really proud of her team—that their first care would be for someone they didn't even know, someone who was potentially the next victim of Red John.

She just shook her head and walked into her office. She had selected some files of her own to review, the ones prior to Red John killing Jane's family. There had to be something in there, something that had been different before he started to taunt Jane. She just had to figure out what it was.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post. It's finales week right now, and it's been a bear. I just realized that I missed the finale in my most important class this semester because I miss read the finale schedule, so I'm not to happy. That being said, this chapter was written before that, so it's not as depressing as the one that I am working on right now. Thanks to Ebony10 for being my beta, and to every one who reviewed.

Her neck hurt. And it was no surprise why. Her head was resting on her desk where she had fallen asleep last night reviewing old Red John case files. She was looking for something—anything—that had been different before Red John had killed Jane's family, before he had begun taunting him, but no. Nothing. The only difference was that Jane had openly mocked him on TV and Red John had retaliated.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at her watch. 7:00 am. Still early. She could go home, shower and be back to work by the time Minelli got in. She stood up and stretched. There was nothing like a night sleeping in an uncomfortable chair to make your back tense up.

Going out into the bull pen she looked around at all the other members of her team. It looked like they had all spent the night. She went over to Van Pelt's desk and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Van Pelt." She said softly, not wanting to startle her. It didn't work. She shot straight up in her chair, almost knocking into Lisbon where she stood slightly behind her.

"Oh, what time is it? I can't believe I fell asleep." She started to straighten the files that had gotten spread around her desk while she was sleeping.

"It's just after 7:00. Why don't you go home for a few hours? Shower, change, eat something. Take a few hours to relax before coming back in." She was speaking quietly. She wanted to wake up the rest of the team individually. Van Pelt nodded her head and started gathering up her things.

Lisbon woke up Rigsby and Cho the same way and got much the same reaction. They all quietly left to go home. She knew they wouldn't be gone very long, just long enough to shower, change, and maybe get something to eat. She waited until they had all left before going over to the worn brown couch.

"I'm already awake." Jane said without opening his eyes.

"You should go home. At least for a few hours, Jane. Take a shower, get some breakfast, take a break."

"I don't want to go back to my house. I think I'll just stay here. I don't smell nearly as bad as Rigsby did. He really should not go 24 hours without a shower." He still hadn't opened his eyes and Lisbon couldn't help but smile down at him.

"Well, I'm going home. I will be back in two hours. You should really think about getting out, at least get some air." She looked down at him still lying on the couch, eyes closed, slight smile on his face. She could never figure out how he managed to look so sexy, seemingly without trying.

"I'll see you then, Teresa. Um, Lisbon. I'll see you then, Lisbon." His grin slipped a little as he said the last words. She just shook her head at him and walked off. Jane waited until he knew she was gone before getting up and wandering into her office. She had the pictures in there (the ones sent by Red John) and he wanted to look at them again without Lisbon breathing down his neck.

He sat down heavily in Lisbon's desk chair and pulled the file on the center of the desk towards him. He wasn't surprised to find both pictures in the current case file. He looked closely at them. The first was more of a snap shot, something that you could get developed at your friendly neighborhood drug store with a one-hour photo. He looked at it for a few minutes. It was a rather flattering picture of her. He remembered the lunch that they had gone to that day. She was laughing in this picture. He had told a particularly stupid joke, but she had laughed anyway and it made her eyes sparkle. Despite his attraction to the subject of the photo, he was still slightly disturbed at the realization that Red John had been following him and Lisbon, stalking them. He felt a jolt of pain when he realized that he shouldn't have let her leave without him. He had promised himself that he would try to protect her. He chuckled to himself at this thought. Who was he kidding? She was the one with the gun and the taser. She could tackle men twice her size without batting an eye or getting winded.

He placed the small glossy snapshot aside and pulled the larger picture out of the file. Where the previous one had been beautiful in its simplicity, this one was horrifying in its complexity. The photo itself was completely different and not just in the size. This one was printed on heavy duty paper and had a matte finish to it. This one looked as if it had been printed on something much more sophisticated than what you find down at the drug store. Red John must have printed it himself. He would have had to if he distorted the faces and not really anything else. He was secretly glad that _this_ was the picture that had been left for him. He smiled at the memories of what had happened in the minutes just after this photo was taken.

He was still sitting in Lisbon's office when people started to arrive for the day. He sighed, replacing the photos and closing the case file. He might as well get some air. He could visit the coffee cart outside the building or maybe the diner down the street. Eggs would be good for breakfast and they had a decent selection of tea. Leaving Lisbon's office, he closed the door behind him and, nodding to some of the early arrivers, left the building.

Lisbon was standing in her bedroom wrapped in a towel. She had spent more time in the shower than she had planned and now she was spending too much time trying to figure out what to wear. She was trying to pretend it didn't matter what she wore, but was having a hard time with it. She finally settled on a green t-shirt and black jeans, an outfit she wore often and knew Jane liked. Not that it mattered.

By the time she finished getting ready it was already past 8:30 (so much for a decent breakfast). She rushed out the door to get back to work before the others. On her way to her car, she stopped by her mail box to grab her mail. She hadn't checked it the day before. She heard someone calling her name and sighed. Turning around with a smile, she said "Good morning, Mrs. Fielding."

"Teresa, darling, I tried to come by your place last night, but you never answered. Out with that blond fellow of yours, were you?" The older woman asked with her eyebrows raised.

"No, just working a case. I have to get back to work. I just came home to shower and change." She angled slightly toward the parking lot, a signal that she really didn't have time to debate her social life with her neighbor.

"Then I won't keep you. I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving for Florida slightly earlier than I had planned. I'll be leaving in just a day and a half so could you bring my mail in on Thursday? I'll leave a note as to what all needs to be done with the plants and such. I'll call and leave you a message with my flight info and some emergency numbers, just in case."

"Sure thing. Have a safe trip, in case I don't see you between now and then." Lisbon waved at her and walked towards her car, now even later than she had planned. She didn't even think she could get coffee and make it back in time. It killed her. She needed caffeine.

When she got back to the CBI building, she was happy to see that Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho were all back at their desks, looking fresh and relaxed. "All right, people, more of the same today. We need to figure out what we may have been missing. We need to find something to break this case."

A chorus of "OK, Boss" echoed through the room and Lisbon looked around, noticing for the first time that Jane's couch was empty. "Anyone seen Jane?" She asked

They all said they hadn't and she just shook her head. Leave it to him to be late on the days that mattered the most—and he had just been there a few hours ago. She went over to her office and opened the door, stopping just inside at the sight before her eyes. There on her desk was a breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes as well as what looked like a very large cup of coffee. And standing in front of her desk with a large goofy grin on his face was Jane.

"Thank you. Did you get any for yourself?" She asked, sitting down and picking up a fork.

"I already ate. I knew you'd take more time in the shower than you had originally planned so I decided to get you breakfast." He smiled at her as she ate the first bite. She'd never tasted eggs made so well.

"I'll ignore the fact that you think you know my grooming habits and just concentrate on the fact that these are some of the best pancakes I've had in ages." She smiled slightly at Jane as she ate. Today they would figure something out. Today was the day they were going to get a break. She could feel it.


	9. Chapter 9

The day had not gone as hoped. They had not gotten any breaks in the case. Red John was still as elusive as ever. The only bright point had come at 9:00 pm when Minelli had ordered them all to go home for the evening. They hadn't heard anything from Red John in almost two days and they weren't going to solve anything through sleep deprivation and half starving themselves.

Lisbon hadn't listened though and was still sitting in her office half an hour after the rest of the team had gone home (well, everyone else but Jane). She was still determined to find something—anything—in the old case files that would tell them why Red John had seemed to change his pattern.

She knew that Jane had told her not to worry about it, but she just couldn't help it. He might be used to living with a serial killer breathing down his neck, but she wasn't. Her neck had tensed up again and she reached her hand back to try to work some of the kinks out of it.

She jumped when she felt another set of hands on top of hers. "Jane! What are you doing?"

"You look tense. Really, you should relax more." He pushed her hands out of the way and continued to massage her neck. She got a feeling of déjà vu. They had been in the same position just yesterday and yet it seemed like a lifetime ago. "That and I love that look on your face. You know, the one that you get when I-"

"Jane!" She yelled, pulling away from him, "Now is not the time. There's a serial killer on the loose, in case you've forgotten."

He leaned against the edge of her desk, still close to her, but with enough distance that she could make a quick get way if she wanted to. "I never forget. I try, but it's always there."

She felt like an idiot for her last comment, but didn't apologize for it. She had never bothered to walk on egg shells around him and wasn't about to start now. "Why are you still here?"

"I was just thinking about the case." He wasn't looking at her, avoiding her eyes at all costs. She looked at him and noticed the look on his face and it hit her.

"You're scared!" She said in a mixture of surprise, disbelief and triumph. She had figured him out—or at least part of him.

"Wha-NO!" Lisbon looked at him with an eyebrow raised as if to say 'I don't believe you.' "Well, maybe a little. But Teresa-sorry-Lisbon, like you just said: there's a serial killer stalking you, me, _us_. I just want to protect you and being here with you is the only way I can think of."

She had never seen him so unsure of anything. Gone were his ever present cocky grin and smug attitude. They had been replaced with a worried look and haunted eyes. "Don't worry." She said, taking his hands in hers, "I'm the one with the gun, remember? And I'm a pretty good shot."

"That doesn't mean I don't worry about you and want to protect you." He didn't add 'like he wasn't able to do before,' but she knew it was there.

"How are you going to protect me? Follow me home like a lost puppy? I think that would make Red John even more upset, if he is indeed stalking us." She was trying to keep the atmosphere light, but knew it wasn't working. "Go home, Patrick. Sleep, come back, and we'll start all of this again tomorrow. For all we know we'll have another case tomorrow. An easy one that you can show off on." She smiled at him, but he didn't look convinced.

"I care about you, Teresa. I can't help but worry about you." He sighed, standing up and pulling her up with him.

"I know, but that will get us nowhere. I'm going to go home, take a bath and go to bed. You should do the same thing." She grabbed her bag and started to walk out the door.

"If you insist, my dear, but the bath is really more your thing than mine." He smiled at his poor attempt at a joke.

"Goodnight, Jane." Lisbon said without turning around.

Jane stood there watching her walk out and waited until he heard the ding of the elevator before sitting in Lisbon's chair. It was going to be a long night and he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep.

It was almost midnight when Lisbon pulled into the parking lot at her apartment complex. Feeling lucky to have found a parking spot at all, she grabbed her mail and headed inside. She stood by the trash can in the kitchen, sorting the mail from the morning and the mail she had just received. Bills went in one pile, junk mail was tossed, and the indeterminate things were opened and then usually thrown away as well. She was down to her last piece of mail, a large manila envelope with no return address. She assumed that it was from her brother. He had promised to send her pictures of some of his new work—he was a painter—and she took it into her bed room with her to open while getting ready for her bath.

She started the water running before she opened the envelope. There was no note, just a stack of photos in various sizes. She looked at the first one and nearly dropped them. Quickly she flipped through the rest of them, her fear and anger rising with each picture. She grabbed her phone and hit speed dial 1.

"Are you still at work? Good, I'm coming back…No, I'll explain when I get there." She quickly turned off the water in the bath, not bothering to drain it. So much for relaxing at home.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really shouldn't be posting this right now, especially as I don't have the next part written, but what can I say, I had a crappy day at work, so to cheer myself up, I'm posting this and am going to spend all night making apple butter, blackberry jam and burp rags. Thanks to Ebony10 for betaing for me, and to every one who read and responded :)

Jane sat on his couch. He had left Lisbon's office soon after she had called saying she was coming back, not wanting her to know that he had been in there. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. She had sounded spooked on the phone, not that she would have admitted it to him if he had asked. He didn't know what would have gotten her upset enough to come back to work tonight. It must have been pretty important if she couldn't even wait until morning.

He heard the elevator ding down the hall and her footsteps coming towards him. "My office, Jane." She called into the bullpen before going into her office. He waited a few minutes before following her. He didn't say anything when he got in. He just stood there, knowing she would speak when she was ready.

"A package was delivered to my house today, postmarked Sacramento. Same zip code as mine." She paused here, unsure how to continue. She pulled the large envelope out of her bag and laid it on the desk in front of her. Jane looked at it as if he could tell what was in it just by staring at it.

"Are you going to tell me what's in it or are you just going to sit there?" Asked Jane after a few minutes.

Lisbon opened the envelope and emptied it on the desk in front of her. It only took a second for him to realize what he was looking at and he sat down heavily in the chair across from her. "Are these all…"

"There pictures of me mostly," She said, cutting him off. "Some of you, a few of us. And to say that the picture he left at the last crime scene could have been worse is an understatement." She rifled through the pictures on her desk and pulled one out. "This is the only one that's signed."

She handed him the picture. He had to try very hard to control his emotions and keep the anger and fear off his face when he looked at it. It was a picture similar to the one that had been left for them at the last crime scene, but in this one you could tell who the man and woman were and they were in a much more comprising position. There was _no_ denying what was going on in this picture. It was also one of the largest pictures and down in the bottom corner was a red smiley face.

Jane stared at it for a few minutes before laying it on the desk and picking up the rest of the pictures to go though them. They were all different sizes and finishes, like Red John hadn't been sure what he was going to be doing with them when he developed them. A picture of him and Lisbon together made him stop. He knew when that picture had been taken. They were walking into the CBI building together the morning that they got the Red John case. They were both smiling and he was holding the door for her. He had seen the man taking the picture and he hadn't thought anything of it.

"I saw him." He said quietly. "I saw him!" The second time was more forceful and angry and he banged his fist on the desk in front of him. "He was standing right outside, taking pictures and I didn't think anything of it. I saw him and I didn't even think!" He didn't bother trying to hide his anger now. Red John was playing him for the fool, again.

"Hey, calm down. Breaking my desk isn't going to solve anything. Obviously Red John still thinks you've forgotten your 'lesson' so we just need to work harder to convince him."

Jane shook his head. This was Red John. He was toying with him. It was not going to work. "I'm sick of trying to please a serial killer. I've let him rule my life for almost six years now. I'm done."

"Maybe you are, but I'm still petrified of him." She started going through the pictures on the desk, pulling out the ones that might be an embarrassment if seen by the rest of the team. "I'll leave these here. We can deal with them in the morning. Why don't you at least attempt to go home this time? You can't get much sleep on that couch." She put the pictures she had pulled out in her bag and walked towards her door for the second time that night.

"I won't get any sleep when I know the woman I care about is out there alone, without protection. Let me come with you." He moved to stop her from leaving, but the look in her eyes stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm the one with the gun, remember? I will be fine. Personally, I don't want to piss him off any more than he appears to be by taunting him and ignoring his warnings. Do not follow me home, Jane. If you do, Red john will be the least of your problems."

He just stared at her as she left. Why did she insist on being so difficult? Couldn't she see that he really just wanted to protect her? Didn't she know that he loved her?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long. You have no idea how hard it is to write Red John, that and I have like four different fics running around in my head right now demanding I give them all equal attention. That being said, I do have three more chapters ready to go after this. I will try to space them out, but knowing me I'll update first chance I get :) Not that anyone minds I'm sure. Thanks for all the reviews, and to Ebony 10 for being my beta, I know it can't be easy.

Lisbon didn't know why she had even bothered to go back home last night. She didn't sleep. She hadn't even bothered trying. She had even skipped the bath she had so been looking forward to. She knew she wasn't going to be able to relax. Lisbon left home early that morning, waving to her neighbor Mrs. Fielding who was helping a cab driver load her luggage in the back of a cab. She would have to remember to bring in the older woman's mail when she got home from work that night.

She was one of the first people in the office that morning. Not the first—that was Jane. Lisbon knew he hadn't left the night before. If it was possible, he looked even worse than she did. It was obvious that he hadn't gotten any sleep. The bags under his eyes were even darker than usual. She was just glad that, being a woman, she could wear makeup to mask her fatigue.

She didn't bother saying hello to him when she came in. She knew he would come to see her eventually and she was right. She was just sitting down at her desk when he came in.

"You look like hell." He said with a slight teasing smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"You don't look so stellar yourself. When was the last time you went home?" She asked, trying to smile at him, but not quite pulling it off.

He thought about it for a minute "Went home? Day before yesterday. Slept at home? Over a month. When was my accident again? Just before then." He was being serious, but could tell that she didn't believe him. "I'm serious. The last time I slept in that house was before my accident. Honestly, I would rather be sleeping with you, despite whatever Red John is trying to get us to do. It's just a scare tactic. He wants us to play his game. We can't let him win." He was standing in front of her desk now, leaning over it, his face close to hers.

"Well, it's working. I for one will do whatever I need to do stay alive. So no matter how much I want to do the opposite, we need to keep things professional." She leaned back in her chair, trying to put more distance between them. She looked at her watch and stood up quickly, gathering the pictures that were still on her desk from the night before. She could tell that he had been looking at them, but didn't say anything about it. "Minelli should be in by now. I'm going to go talk to him." She gave him one last pleading look as she left the office.

Jane just stood there looking after her. He had spent all night trying to remember what the face of the guy who had been taking the pictures had looked like. No luck. All Jane could remember was that he had worn a baseball hat and the camera had covered most of his face. His clothing was nondescript and what little of his skin Jane had seen looked white, which they already knew. There was nothing he could glean from the encounter (if you could even call it that) that would help them in catching Red John. It just wasn't fair. He was sick of having him rule his life. Sighing, he went to lie on the couch until the rest of the team arrived.

He had fallen into a fitful kind of slumber by the time the rest of the team arrived. He registered their normal morning noises as a kind of back drop to a waking dream that stared Lisbon in the role of murder victim. He was back in his house, walking up those stairs again, but instead of his wife and daughter in the room slashed open with blood everywhere, it was Lisbon. She was laying there in a puddle of blood, her eyes open and lifeless. He jerked awake, causing Van Pelt to look over at him with a concerned expression on her face.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"No. Yeah, I'm fine." He mumbled, standing and walking to the break room to make a cup of tea. Last night and the night before had been the same. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the familiar hallway—the note on the door—but behind it was a different scene than normal. It was Lisbon, his sweet precious Teresa, laying there. He had failed to protect her, just like he had failed to protect his wife and child. He couldn't let that happen. He had to be able to protect her.

He was taking his first sip of the hot, steaming liquid when he heard the voices of Lisbon and Minelli coming down the hall. From the sounds of it, Lisbon was not happy.

"I don't care if you've been on this case for the last four years. I am taking you off." He heard Minelli say.

"It's just a few stupid pictures! Are we going to let him intimidate us?" He could hear Lisbon's voice now. He gave a sad sort of half smirk at her argument to Minelli—the same one he had been giving her for the past few days.

He walked into the bullpen at the same time as Lisbon and Minelli and sat on the couch, just in time to hear Minelli call out.

"Listen up, people! Agent Lisbon seems to have caught the attention of our favorite serial killer. He sent her even more pictures last night. To solve this little problem, and to keep her from becoming his next victim, I'm assigning her round the clock protection. She's not going to be going out into the field to investigate or interview people and when she's not here, she will be with someone on the team. Do you understand me?" That last question was directed more towards Lisbon and the team.

At the scowl on her face Jane smiled. This is just what he had been waiting for. Finally he was going to be able to keep an eye on her without her being able to protest. The rest of the team just stared. Rigsby was the first to say something.

"What do you mean he sent more pictures? Did he send them here?" He asked.

"No," Lisbon answered. "He sent them to my house. We've got forensics looking into the pictures themselves as well as the envelope. They're going to see if they can figure out where it was mailed from by the post mark."

"I'll take the first shift tonight." Cho said suddenly. Jane could tell that he was clearly worried about his boss, although the casual observer wouldn't have noticed a difference from his normal behavior.

"Thanks Cho. Right now, we just need to keep doing what we've been doing. Van Pelt, I want you and Jane to go talk to the families of some of Red John's victims in the area. I have the addresses of at least four that are in or around Sacramento. They might not all be current, but see if you can find out any useful information from them. Cho, Rigsby, keep going through the old case files and the more recent ones. See if you can find any differences between the early ones and the later ones—anything that may have changed, even something small might be important in figuring out who this guy is." She pushed past Minelli and went into her office. Jane went to follow her, but Minelli beat him to the door. Instead of entering, he stood outside and listened to the conversation that was going on.

"Don't give me that look, Teresa. I know you're mad, but this is best way. Unless you want me to take your whole team off the case, then this is the way it's going to have to be." Minelli said. His voice was much quieter than it had been earlier and Jane had to strain to hear what he was saying.

"I can't have my team pulled off the Red John case. Jane would never be able to handle that. He'd want to go to whatever team was handling Red John and you know I have a hard time controlling him. Just imagine him on a new team: he'd walk all over them."

Did Lisbon really think that he would leave her team? True, Red John was important, but right now what was more important was protecting her—the woman he loved. He just didn't think he'd be able to get over it if something happened to her. His mind flashed back to the dream he'd had that morning. Teresa, lying in a puddle of blood with a red smiley face above her head. He felt a panic begin to rise in him. He was getting ready to just barge into her office when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"We should get going. Some of these people live pretty far outside of town. It's going to take us all day to do these interviews." Van Pelt tried to ignore the look of panic that she had seen on his face for a split second. She tried to convince herself it was just her imagination.

"I need to talk to Lisbon before we leave." He said, his matter of fact tone effectively hiding all emotion.

"She'll be here when we get back. Don't worry." Van pelt put a hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the elevator. Jane looked back towards the door to Lisbon's office. It was still closed, presumably she was still arguing with Minelli about the round the clock surveillance. He sighed. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could get back and convince Cho that he would be taking the watch tonight. He needed to be the one to be there for her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, things are going to start getting intense. Thanks for all the reviews, and to Ebony10 for being my beta.

Lisbon looked down at her watch. 6:00. A little earlier than she should be leaving, but she was exhausted. She knew Cho was waiting out there for her to go home. She hadn't been able to talk Minelli out of the round the clock protection. She thought that if they were to leave now, they could be gone by the time Van Pelt and Jane get back. That was one conversation she didn't want to have. She knew that if Jane got there before she left, he would talk Cho into letting him stay with her and she knew where that would lead. She wanted to avoid that at all costs.

She tidied up her desk and picked up her bag. She walked out into the bullpen and caught Cho's eye. "You ready to head out?" She asked him.

"Sure thing, boss." He grabbed his car keys and headed toward her. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No, we should both take our own cars. Do you need to stop by your place for anything?" She asked him, hoping he would say yes. She wanted a few minutes alone before her place was invaded by CBI agents, even if it was just one and even if she'd known him for longer than anyone else on the team.

"Yeah, but that can wait. Tomorrow I'll know to grab an overnight bag from home." They were talking as they rode down the elevator and walked towards their cars.

"Why don't you go home and grab your stuff? I promise nothing is going to happen to me tonight. It's still relatively light out and I do have a gun. I know how to defend myself."

She could tell that Cho wanted to protest, but the mention of the gun and his memory of the last time they were at the firing range together made him change his mind. "Okay, boss, but call me first if there's anything suspicious at all when you get home."

Lisbon nodded her head, glad to be rid of him right away. Now she just had to work on getting him to leave her alone for the rest of the night. The ride back to her apartment took less time than it should have, but she didn't care. She was just glad to be home. She stopped at the mail boxes and picked up her mail and her neighbor's. She'd start dinner and change before bringing the mail over.

She decided that spaghetti would be an easy thing to make. Even though she didn't want Cho there, that was no reason for him to starve. She had canned pasta sauce and precooked sausage so she started them heating and put a pot of water on to boil. She quickly changed into her relaxing clothes—loose fitting yoga pants and a tank top—and grabbed her key ring and Mrs. Fielding's mail.

She was slightly surprised to see that there was still a light on at her neighbor's house. Usually Lisbon would turn one on when she brought in the mail and come back over to turn it off in the morning. The older woman preferred it this way when she was not at home and Lisbon didn't object. It wasn't like she was paying the electric bill. She figured that it had been left on by the older woman herself who knew that she had been spending late hours at work.

Lisbon placed the mail on the little table by the door and decided that she might as well water the plants since she was there. She got the watering can out from under the sink in the kitchen and filled it up. There were two plants in the kitchen window, four in the living room, one in the bathroom, and three in the guest room. She watered the plants in the master bedroom last. No matter how often Lisbon watched Mrs. Fielding's apartment, she had never gotten comfortable going into the bedroom. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The sight before her made her gasp and drop the half full watering can. She didn't even notice as the water spilled over her feet and soaked into the carpet. Her eyes were fixed on the wall in front of her. Staring back at her was a red smiley face painted in blood.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Mothers Day to all the mom's out there. I wasn't planing on updating, but I felt like celebrating. So I promised a friend that I would recommend to everyone to read the crossover titled "Red Rover, Red Rover" and I completely forgot, so check it out. It's a really good Red John fic. Sorry about the cliffhanger. Well, actually, I'm not. It keeps you coming back for more. This one should be a little less cliffhnagerish. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, and to Ebony10 for being my beta.

She stood there, staring at the face on the wall, not wanting to believe what it meant. She had seen Mrs. Fielding getting in the cab this morning. She should be in Florida right now with her sister, drinking mimosas together and hitting on men half their age. She should not— _could_ not—be in this apartment, on that bed, below that…that _thing_ on the wall. She knew she needed to do something, but she was frozen. She couldn't think. She head a ringing noise and thought that she must be going crazy. It finally dawned on her that she was hearing her cell phone and quickly answered it just before it went to voicemail. She didn't even bother to look at the caller ID.

"Lisbon, where the hell are you?" It was Cho. He was clearly worried and more than a little upset. The emotions were uncharacteristically showing through in his voice. "I get here and your door is unlocked, there's food cooking on the stove, and you're nowhere to be found. I thought Red John had gotten you."

"I'm house-sitting for my neighbor. She went out of town today." She didn't recognize her own voice.

"What's wrong?" Apparently Cho couldn't recognize her voice either.

"I'm right next door. She's been killed." Lisbon hung up the phone. She knew Cho would be over in a matter of seconds. She needed to sit down, but knew she couldn't compromise the scene. Her senses were starting to come back and she realized that her feet were wet from where the water had spilled. She thought distantly that she ought to call it in, but was still in shock. Her neighbor had never done anything. She was just a sweet little old lady who liked to hit on men in their twenties at the beach with her sister. She had a son and grandchildren. Oh God, she was going to have to call her son and her sister and tell them what happened. Tell them that their sister and mother was killed just because Lisbon lived next door. It just wasn't right.

She was still standing in the doorway to the bedroom when Cho entered the apartment. He started speaking before he got to her. "I called it in. Said you found the body of your neigh…" his voice drifted off as he got to where she was standing and saw the face on the wall. "Red John."

She nodded, trying to find the strength to look away. Cho was the one who guided her back to her own apartment. He sat her on the sofa and brought her a glass of water from the kitchen. "I'll let you know when the rest of the team gets here. I'm going back next door to make sure it remains secure until they get here. One of us will take your statement then." He was speaking to her as if she was a small child, but she didn't care. She was still in too much shock to notice. She just nodded her head and stared straight ahead, not looking as he left her apartment and shut the door.

It felt like an eternity that she sat there before she saw the lights and heard the sirens of the approaching police and most likely a few very anxious CBI agents accompanied by a consultant. She didn't move except to place the cup on the coffee table in front of her. It was Van Pelt who came to get her statement. She asked the routine questions: how long had she known the victim, why was she in the apartment, could she think of anyone who might have wanted to kill her. Lisbon answered them all and, as Van Pelt was standing to leave, asked a few questions of her own.

"Where's Jane?" She had honestly expected him to be the first one on the scene when Cho had called it in and was surprised that he hadn't shown his face yet.

"I don't know. We had just gotten back when we got Cho's call that your neighbor had been killed although he hadn't said that it was a Red John case. Jane just kind of left. Rigsby hadn't even gotten the words out of his mouth and Jane was gone. I don't know where he went."

Lisbon nodded. She hoped that where ever he was, he wasn't doing anything stupid. "I should probably be the one to call her family. I've met them all before. I think it would be better coming from me." As she was saying this her landline began to ring. She debated answering it and in the end let her answering machine pick up. She heard the computer voice ringing out through the apartment, telling the caller to leave a message, before the voice on the line started to speak.

"Hello, this is Margie White—Nancy Fielding's sister. I know you watch her apartment for her while she's visiting and was wondering if you had heard from her. She didn't show up here tonight and the airline said she never got on the plane." Lisbon leapt off the sofa and grabbed the phone.

"Mrs. White, this is Teresa Lisbon, your sister's neighbor. I'm also a CBI agent."

Van Pelt was standing there watching Lisbon as she talked, wishing she could hear what the woman on the other end was saying.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this over the phone, but," She paused there. This was always the hardest part for her, "I found your sister dead tonight, murdered."

Van Pelt could hear the howling that came through the phone line and was not at all surprised when she noticed Lisbon was also having a hard time controlling her tears. "No, don't worry. I'll make sure to call him. Is there someone who can stay with you tonight? You probably shouldn't be alone." After making sure that Mrs. White would be alright, Lisbon hung up the phone. One down, one to go, she thought in her head. She noticed that the light on her answering machine was flashing and knew that at least one of her messages was from Mrs. Fielding, leaving the number for her son in case anything bad should happen to her. In all the times Lisbon had house-sat for her, she had never once had to use it. It looked like she wasn't that lucky this time.

Jane stood screaming at the wall in his house. He had left the second he heard that Lisbon's neighbor had been killed. Cho hadn't said that it was Red John, but Jane had known. He had wanted to drive to her place and be with her, comfort her, but knew that wouldn't be possible right now. Right now he was angry. How had Red John gotten so close to her? It was possible that she had even seen him and not realized it, like he had just a few days ago.

So instead of going to her apartment to comfort the woman he loved, he had gone back to his empty house to yell at Red John. Because he didn't have the real thing in front of him, he yelled at the wall. He was pretty sure he had a broken hand from hitting the wall as well. His fist was swollen up to twice its normal size and his blood was now mingled with that of his wife's and daughter's on the wall.

"Why can't you just leave her alone? Why do you have to torture me? I've paid my dues! You've taken away everything I've ever cared for! Do you have to hurt Teresa too? I love her, you, you…" he couldn't think of another word and so settled for hitting the wall with his fist again. He managed to make a hole in the already weak spot. His had hurt even worse now and he was unable to move his fingers. He was going to need to have it looked at, but first he needed to see her, needed to make sure she was alright.

He went out to his car and started driving. It was harder than he thought it would be with his hand in pain, but he'd manage.

Lisbon waited until Van Pelt went back next door. She slowly poked her head out of her door. She had to find Jane. She knew he wasn't going to be handling this very well. She looked to make sure there was no one who could see her—no one that would stop her at least—and made her way to her car. She had a good idea of where he would be. It was just a matter of getting there before he did something stupid.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have misplaced my flash drive with all my story stuff on it. This is bad. It means that I have to either find it, or completely re-work and re-write what I had already had done for the next chapter. This is my poor attempt not to get yelled at when you get to the end of this chapter. You'll know what I mean when you read it. Thanks to Ebony10 for the beta, and to all the lovely people who reviewed this.

Jane pulled into the parking lot of Lisbon's apartment complex, not surprised at the number of police cars that were there. The rest of the neighborhood seemed to have decided that this is where they needed to be and the Sacramento PD had their hands full keeping the crowds and press back. Jane walked up to one of the officers and flashed his ID badge before slipping under the thin yellow police tape.

He didn't notice any of the team hanging around outside the apartments and knew that they were all either with Lisbon, or in the apartment of her late neighbor. Jane decided to check Lisbon's apartment first and slipped in the door, unnoticed by the crowd and the cops who were supposed to be watching.

The first thing Jane noticed was the silence. The second was the sick, sweet smell of burning tomatoes. He quickly went into the kitchen and noticed two pans on the stove, both turned on. One had less than half an inch of water in the bottom and the other was popping and hissing spaghetti sauce all over the stove. He quickly turned off both pans and carefully grabbing the pan with the scorched sauce in his good hand put it in the sink and filled it full of water.

He knew Lisbon wasn't there. She would never let her kitchen get to such a state, even if her neighbor had been killed. He decided to look around anyway, just to see if anything was out of place. He noticed that her gun and taser were not in their usual place nor were her keys hanging up by the door. She must have gone somewhere.

He stepped out of her apartment as quietly as he had come in. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Lisbon, but her phone went straight to voicemail. He was just getting ready to walk back to his car when a voice called his name. He cringed slightly, but plastered a smile on his face and turned.

"Van Pelt, fancy meeting you here." He said jovially, clasping his hands behind his back. If she saw his hand she would ask questions that he didn't want to answer.

"Where were you? Lisbon was asking for you. Did you see her?" She was standing in front of him and didn't seem to notice his slight discomfort.

"No, she wasn't in her apartment. I thought she was with you." He tried not to let the panic show in his voice.

"No, I left her there. She said she wanted to call the family." Van Pelt was clearly worried. She called out to one of the uniform cops. "Hey, did you see a brunet woman about 5' 3" coming out of this apartment?"

"Yeah, she looked liked she belonged and knew what she was doing. I didn't stop her." Jane cursed under his breath. "Should I have stopped her?"

"No, it's alright. Did you see which direction she went?" Van Pelt asked him, ignoring Jane's extraneous comments.

"Parking lot." He said gruffly before heading back to his spot on the yellow tape.

Jane reached both hands up to his face and flinched at the pain in his hand. This was not good. She could be anywhere.

"Jane, what did you do to your hand?' Van Pelt asked, reaching up to grab it.

"Nothing. Just a flesh wound. I'll be fine." He tried to pull it back, but she held tight to his arm.

"I think it's broken. You should have that looked at." The concern was evident in her voice as she turned his hand over in hers.

"It's fine. I should go look for Lisbon. She shouldn't be out there by herself. She probably went to find me." He succeeded in pulling his hand away, even though it hurt like hell when he did.

"Let Cho and Rigsby go. We need your help inside." She said, glancing back down at his hand.

"Give me a minute. I need some air, OK?" Jane said, giving her a smile that he knew would convey trust and care.

"Ok, but don't wait too long." Jane nodded at her and watched her walk back into the apartment. He waited until she was inside before he turned and headed back to his car. He had a pretty good idea where Lisbon was headed. He just hoped she would wait there for him.

Lisbon pulled up to Jane's house. His car wasn't in the driveway, but she decided to go inside to look around anyway. Van Pelt hadn't mentioned if Jane had taken his own car, although she had assumed that he had. She was sure he would show up here eventually.

She wasn't really surprised that the door wasn't locked. If Jane had been upset, he might be distracted enough not to lock the door behind him. She walked into the house and called out to him. He didn't answer, not that she was expecting him to—he likely wasn't here after all. She made her way up the stairs. She knew where she was going. She was drawn to the room—it was as if the face was calling to her.

She opened the door and walked in, staring at the face. She noticed that there was something different about it this time. There was a bloody hole in the wall right next to the face. Jane had been here after all. She walked up to it and fingered the jagged edges. He probably had a broken hand after that.

She heard a door slam somewhere below her and went to reach for her gun. She cursed silently when she realized that she had left it back at her apartment in its normal spot next to her taser. She walked quickly over to the door and stood with her back against the wall. She looked out into the hallway, but didn't see anything. She shook her head. This was ridiculous. It was probably just Jane. She moved away from the wall and turned to look at the smiley face again.

She didn't even have time to react when she felt an electric jolt surge through her body. She collapsed to the floor, withering in pain as she felt another jolt. She saw a face come into view just as she was blacking out. The face was speaking. As if through water, the voice reached her ears.

"Nice to finally meet you face to face, Agent Lisbon."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ebony10 for being my beta. Please don't hate me.

It was the bright flashes that woke her. Then the searing pain in her side and the throbbing in her head. She tried to focus and look around, but each time her vision cleared another flash went off. She found it easier to just keep her eyes closed.

"I think I prefer you to all my previous victims. I've never known them as well as I've known you, Agent Lisbon." She opened her eyes to try to find who the voice was coming from, but there was another flash. "You're much prettier than his wife, a better match for him really. She was gorgeous, but you have a different quality about you. Your looks are more down to earth, classic." Another flash.

"He put her up on a pedestal. She was his queen. What would you call it? Whipped." Lisbon opened her eyes just a crack. She was lying on the floor in what she assumed was Jane's bed room. To her surprise her hands and feet were not bound. She couldn't figure out why her side hurt so much. She reached a hand down and touched the spot that was aching. Her fingers came away wet and she was sure if she were to look at them they would be red with blood.

She knew she needed to keep him talking, keep him away from her. The team would figure out that she was gone eventually and this would be one of the places that they would look. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead of sound she started coughing uncontrollably, causing her head to pound and her side to burn. She could hear Red John laughing and knew he was taking more pictures. She could hear the click of the camera.

"Smile, my dear. I want to make sure I have a good one to send back to the CBI." More clicking. She heard the sound of his footsteps coming closer and she struggled to open her eyes. The blinding flashing had stopped, replaced instead with a steady warm glow. He had turned on a light of some sort. Before she could get her bearings she saw his foot moving swiftly and tried to brace herself as his most likely steel toed boots connected with her already aching and bleeding side. She was sure that he had broken a few ribs. She struggled to catch her breath and moved into a sitting position as he continued to take pictures, talking almost conversationally.

"You know, most people don't get to see their portraits before I kill them. Only one other person has ever seen their face before the deed is done. How fitting then that here we are in that room." He hit her across the face with something hard. When her eyes focused again she realized that he was holding a gun now as well as the camera. In fact, it looked like it was her gun. How the hell did her get her gun? He must have been in her apartment. He must have been there before she left or just after. He had been there when Cho and Van Pelt and Rigsby were all there, and none of them had seen him.

"Interesting thing about this smiley face. Only one I've ever done in two people's blood. Not even that idiot Renfrew deserved to have his portrait painted. The blood was all that hooker's. Poor girl, wrong place at the wrong time." Red John tucked the gun into the waist band of his dark pants and pulled a knife out of a sheath on his belt. "This smiley face was painted twice. First in the blood of that sweet tender little child and then in the blood of her mother. And now, it looks like the blood of the father as well. Quite a temper your lover has." He laughed and lunged at her with the knife. She knew what was coming, but couldn't move fast enough. Her body still fighting the effects of the taser. It was probably _her_ taser, she realized, as the knife came slashing down, cutting into her left arm and causing her to scream in pain. Automatically her right arm came up to press on the cut. She could tell by the amount of blood seeping from between her fingers that is was deep.

Red John laughed at her scream and turned to walk to the corner, setting the camera on what appeared to be a tripod. As he fiddled with the controls on the back, he continued talking. "You know, my dear sweet Agent Lisbon, I've never been as fascinated with any of my victims as I am with you. Even with your lover's family, I was merely interested in seeing them suffer, seeing him suffer. But with you." He paused and stepped around the camera, coming closer again. "With you, it's different. You're just a little fireball. You are a constant amazement to me. I've been watching you and Mr. Jane for years now, off and on."

He was passing around the room, never taking his gaze off of her. Now that his face was no longer obscured by the camera Lisbon studied it, trying to figure out if she had seen him before. There was nothing special about him, no distinguishing characteristics. He was of average height and weight, his eyes were an unidentifiable color, and his hair was a rather bland shade of light brown. Passing him on the street, she never would have given him a second look. She struggled to a sitting position and moved against the wall, facing the door.

"Why?" She was surprised by how weak her voice sounded.

"Why? Well, at first it was just for amusement. Patrick Jane is a broken man and I enjoyed seeing him trying to pick up the pieces. But then, I noticed you. You've loved him from the first day, I think—lust first, but then real love. I never thought you would act on it. Honestly, that day in the woods, now that was eye opening. You have beautiful curves Agent Lisbon. Beautiful creamy skin. And you gave it to Mr. Jane. He doesn't deserve you. He's a poor excuse for a man. It took me sending him that note to do anything about that attraction he's been feeling for you for some time now."

He leaned down over her and she could feel his breath on her check. She moved away from him, sliding against the wall to try to get away from him. "I never expected to see you getting off the interstate when you did. I definitely never expected you to make like bunnies in the front seat of your car. Really, that was a special day for me." His movements were quicker than she could anticipate in her pain-addled mind and he caught her across her cheek with the butt of the gun. She hadn't even seen him grab it.

She felt herself slipping from consciousness again. She was trying to focus, but it was hard. She thought she saw him pulling something yellow out of his pocket. And was he whistling? He knelt in front of her and whispered into her ear. "I'm going to enjoy this, Agent Lisbon."

She shook her head to try to clear it. She saw something glint and tried to scream as the knife came down. The pain was searing through her stomach was unbearable and she finally allowed everything to go black.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to every one who reviews, especially those that review every time, you know who you are :) And I just want to say again, please don't kill me, it will get better...I think.

Jane drove down the road calmly. He had no reason to rush. Lisbon was out looking for him and he knew the first place she would look. He was comforted by the fact that she had her weapons with her. She had always stressed to him that she could take care of herself because she was the one with the gun.

He pulled up in front of his house and his hackles rose. There was Lisbon's big SUV in his drive way, but next to it—next to it was a small dark blue compact car. He had never seen it before. At least, not that he knew of. Jane pulled up and parked on the other side of Lisbon's car.

He knew he should call someone—Van Pelt or Cho, or heck even Rigsby—but he didn't. He wanted to see what was going on first. Maybe he was just over reacting. Besides, Lisbon was a big girl. She could handle herself. Right? That's what she was always saying anyway: she could handle it.

He walked into his house and he couldn't stop the flash backs from forming in his head. He knew it was irrational, but he just couldn't help it. He could remember that night, walking up the stairs, seeing the note.

Jane took a deep breath to steady himself. This was not going to be like last time. He wouldn't let it be. He was walking towards the steps and nearly jumped out of his shoes when he felt his pocket vibrating. He looked at the caller ID and noticed that it was Van Pelt calling.

"I'm a little busy right now." He said by way of a greeting.

"Jane, where are you? You were supposed to have someone look at your hand." He could tell that she was trying not to get mad. It couldn't be an easy night for her, what with both him and Lisbon going AWOL on her watch.

"I'm with Lisbon. Don't worry." He said as he went to hang up. He could still hear her protests as he clicked the release button on his phone and, instead of placing it back in his pocket, decided to instead place it on the table right inside the door.

He slowly made his way up the stairs noticing for the first time that there was a light on at the end of the hall and that the door was open. Was that whistling he heard? Lisbon didn't whistle. Hum occasionally, but never whistle. There was something wrong here.

He crept to the door, not making a sound, and the sight that he saw made his heart sink in his chest. There lying on the floor was the woman he cared most about in the entire world, the one who helped him move on from the death of his wife and daughter. She wasn't moving and there was blood everywhere. And in front of him, facing the wall, whistling and painting a smiley face with a gloved hand was a man whom Jane assumed was Red John. He just stood there for a moment, not knowing what he was going to do, not sure what he _could_ do.

Lisbon was dead. His Teresa, his love, his whole reason for living was dead. He thought of all the ways he had planned on confronting Red John before. This scene had never been one of them. He had never allowed himself to think about what would happen if Lisbon was there, too. He had always assumed that he would be the one to find Red John first so he wouldn't have to worry about it.

He didn't say anything at first; he looked around the room silently, noticing that a camera was set up in the corner. He took a step into the room, not making a sound. He almost jumped when the man in front of him spoke

"I've never photographed myself before. Your lovely Agent Lisbon inspired me to take up photography. She's far more attractive than your wife ever was—a more natural beauty. I think she suited you very well."

"You've become a common stalker? Forced to document your obsessions on film? Really, I thought you were better than that." Jane said, putting as much vile hate in his voice as possible. He knew that if he was going to get at Red John, he was going to have to remain level-headed. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to attack him, to jump on his back and pummel him, but he knew that it wouldn't work. He had no knife. He had no gun. He had nothing to live for. He needed to kill Red John, but he wanted to make sure it would work first.

"Do you like my artwork, Mr. Jane? Now that you have two to torture you at night?" Red John asked turning and facing Jane head on for the first time. "You're just in time to witness me finishing up with your lovely friend here. She is exquisite, isn't she? So soft. She's not a screamer like your wife was. Do you miss that about her? The screaming, that is."

"You are a small, petty man. You have nothing in your own life to love so you insist on taking away the things that matter to others." He stepped further into the room, coming closer to Red John. "I know why you do it. You crave the attention, but are too insignificant and unimportant to find it elsewhere. You like the feeling of power you get when you think you are in control of a situation. I think you made a mistake this time though. Allowing me to catch you here."

Red John just laughed at him. "Oh really, Mr. Jane? I made a mistake? And what, pray tell is that?"

"You've taken away the last thing on this earth that I cared for. That I loved. I've loved Teresa for a very long time now, something I'm sure you knew. What you didn't know is that she had become my one reason to live. I do not fear you now. I never have really, but now, I know what I must do."

"Are you going to try to kill me Mr. Jane? Make me pay to ruining your life? You brought it on yourself. I've said it before: I don't like being slandered by frauds."

"What have I done to you? You killed my wife, you killed my child, and now you've killed the one person I had left in the world that cared about me. I tried to change. I stopped caring about the money—I give most of my money to charity. I admitted that I was a fraud. Ask any one, they'll tell you. I'm good, but I've stopped doing it for the money. Is it not enough that you killed my family? Now you have to kill Teresa too?"

"Teresa? Really? I thought she had forbidden you from calling her by her first name. Even after you slept with her, she still wouldn't let you call her by her first name. You've never deserved her. She's too good for you. She would have chosen me eventually, just as your wife did. Begging for mercy till the end. I bet I could get your precious _Teresa_ to beg." Red John leered at Jane, as if taunting him. As if to say 'give it your best shot.'

With that Jane lunged at Red John, both hands up. He had forgotten about his broken hand, but Red John had obviously noticed it. He grabbed the broken hand and twisted, stopping Jane short and causing him to scream.

"Your wife was a beggar, Mr. Jane. She begged me to let her go, to spare the child, to forgive you. I hate that in a woman. Most of them do that, beg for mercy. Like it will make any difference. But Agent Lisbon, she didn't beg. She just wanted to know why. Why did I pick her? Why did I choose her to be mine? Will you beg for mercy, Mr. Jane? What do you even have left to bargain with? You're here by yourself. No friends to come to the rescue. No colleagues to protect you."

Jane was trying to block the pain in his hand. The longer Red John talked, the more numb it, _he_ , became. His heart couldn't take much more of this taunting, this verbal torture. As he struggled to remove his hand form Red John's grasp, he started yelling at him. "You've taken away everything that I love! You've tortured me every day for the past six years! All I wanted to do was move on! I loved her and you killed her!"

With the last words, he reached up with his other hand balled into a fist and hit Red John, causing blood to pour out of his nose. Shocked, Red John dropped Jane's hand, bringing his own to his nose. Pulling it away from his face, he saw even more blood than was present before on the yellow kitchen glove.

Before Red John could react, Jane rushed him, grabbing him around the waist and banging him into the wall behind him. Red John pushed back, grabbing Jane by the hair and pulling his head back. They fell to the ground, exchanging blows.

Red John reached around his back, trying to reach the gun that he had tucked into his belt, only to notice that it was no longer there. Not focusing on where the gun was, he continued to roll around on the floor with Jane, knowing that he left the knife near Lisbon's body.

"I don't usually kill men, Mr. Jane." Red John said, panting slightly from the exertion, "But for you, I'll make an exception."

"I don't care." Answered Jane, punching him in the face again. "I don't have anything left to live for. You killed Teresa, she's the only thing that I had going for me. She was the only one who could help me move on. The only one who cared."

Red John grabbed Jane's head and bashed it against the floor. He slammed his fist into Jane's nose, causing blood to flow freely. Jane tried to fight back, to grab him around the torso, trying to change positions so that he was on top, so that he had the upper hand.

He managed to throw him off balance and rolled over so that he was straddling Red John. Having no weapon Jane reached for Red John's throat with his uninjured hand, squeezing, hoping that he had enough strength behind the grasp to incapacitate him.

Red John was flailing beneath him, thrashing his legs and clawing at Jane's hand. Changing tactics as he fought for air, he instead reached his arm forward, punching Jane in the stomach and causing him to gasp, releasing a little pressure on Red John's neck.

It was enough to allow Red John to rip Jane's hand from his throat. Red John rolled with Jane once more, violently slamming Jane's head into the floor. Grabbing the knife where he had left it lying on the floor next to Lisbon's body, he raised the knife above his head and snarled at Jane. "Good bye, Mr. Jane." Before he could bring the knife down, a shot rang out.

The knife fell from Red John's hand as he gasped for breath. He struggled to stand, staggering as he rose to his feet. He took half a step before collapsing into a heap on the floor. Jane just lay on the floor in shock. He rose up on his elbows slowly, looking around. There standing in front of him, leaning against the wall and holding a gun with her hand covering her stomach as if she were in pain, was the one person he never thought he'd ever see again. His Teresa. He blinked, not believing what he was seeing.

"Teresa?" He croaked out, shaking his head, trying to focus, but the beating he had taken at the hands of Red John was just too much. He saw her sliding to the floor—there was blood everywhere, all over her, all over the wall where she had been standing. She couldn't be alive. The pain was coming back to him, and he felt the world spinning around him and fade to black.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who reviewed, and to Ebony10 for the beta. Same applies as before, please don't kill me, it will get happy eventually.

Van Pelt walked back into the neighbor's apartment to get Rigsby and Cho. She was hoping that Jane wouldn't take long getting inside. She'd always hated Red John cases and this one was worse. Now all the taunting that Red John had been doing was striking too close to home. It was simple to explain away and pretend to not care when it was just pictures in the mail, but Lisbon's neighbor? That was something else entirely.

"Hey, guys," Van Pelt said, entering the apartment. "Jane's outside. He says Lisbon's not in her apartment anymore. Jane wants to go looking for her, but I know we need his help here. Can you go see if you can find her? she probably shouldn't be alone."

"Yeah, sure. I'm done here." Said Cho, turning his back on the red mark on the wall. He was doing a good job hiding the emotions that were churning in him. He had always considered Lisbon a friend and knowing that she was in pain was just too much for him.

Cho walked out the door and looked around, not seeing Jane anywhere. He walked into Lisbon's apartment calling for him. He quickly looked around although he knew from the moment he walked in that Jane wasn't there. Cursing under his breath, he went back inside, almost running into Rigsby on his way.

"He's not here. Damn it. There's a psychotic serial killer on the loose and we have people running around like it's no big deal." Cho rarely showed his anger—really there had only been one person in recent memory that had caused him to lose control, even slightly. The same person who had been taunting his friends, who had probably stood right there that night, who had killed Lisbon's neighbor. Red John.

"I'll call him. He's got to come back here. He broke his hand." Van pelt said, joining Cho and Rigsby on the sidewalk outside the apartments.

"He broke his hand? How?" Rigsby asked, focusing on the one thing that was the easiest to think about.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me." Van Pelt said, not really paying attention to him. She pulled out her phone and dialed. "Jane, where are you? You were supposed to have someone look at your hand." She waited a minute, while he spoke. "Jane? Jane! Don't hang up the phone. Damn. He hung up on me." She said, closing her phone and staring at it.

"Let me try." Said Cho, dialing his phone. He waited for Jane to pick up and when he didn't left him a message instead. "Damn it, Jane! What were you thinking?" And then he hung up.

"Let's go, man." Rigsby said, heading towards the black SUV that was parked in the parking lot of the apartment complex. "I think I know where they're at."

"How do you know that?" Cho asked,s also walking towards the SUV.

"Call it a guess. Maybe I'm channeling Jane's psychic power." He knew it was a stupid joke, but that was the way that he handled the stress.

They drove quickly, not turning on the siren, but knowing it was there if they needed it. When they reached Jane's house they immediately recognized Lisbon's and Jane's cars parked in the long drive way. They noticed another car, one that they didn't recognize, and immediately went on guard. Getting out of the SUV, Cho called for backup and they both pulled their weapons.

Slowly they entered the house, noticing that the only light on was coming from upstairs. They quickly cleared the downstairs area, and made their way up the long straight stairway. Rigsby was the first one up the stairs and broke into a run he second he saw the open doorway. He could see Jane lying there on the floor and a man he didn't recognize next to him. On the wall were two smiley faces, one faded with age and one still wet and glistening.

"Jane!" Rigsby called, kneeling beside him as Cho called for an ambulance. "Jane, can you hear me?" He felt for a pulse and noticed that, while weak, it was definitely there. He moved to the man next to Jane and noticed that he had yellow kitchen gloves on his hands. He felt for a pulse as well and noticed that this man—probably Red John—also had a weak but steady pulse, He looked him over and noticed that there was a bullet hole in his back. He shouted to Cho for something to hold over the wound to try to stop the bleeding.

"Cho, wake up, man! He's bleeding. I need a towel or something." He looked over his shoulder at Cho and realized that he was looking past him at something on the floor. Rigsby looked over and saw for the first time to see what Cho was staring at, slack jawed and in shock.

There, lying on the floor, slightly up against the wall, was Lisbon, her face pale, blood in a large pool around her and a gun dangling from her hands. Rigsby jumped up and ran to her, feeling for a pulse and trying to see if she was breathing.

"She's not breathing!" He called out to Cho who had at last moved from the door way. The shorter man came over to her and helped Rigsby lay her out on the floor. There was so much blood and the wound on her stomach looked so deep. They started CPR, hoping that the paramedics would get there in time.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more left after this, sad I know. On the bright side, that means that it's got to start getting happy, right? Thanks to every one who reviewed, and especially to Ebony10 for not only being my beta, but for amazingly still having a copy of this chapter, so that when my children lost my flash drive (again) while I was at work, I was still able to update tonight.

His mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls that were spilling out into his mouth. There was a heavy weight on his chest and his eyes felt gritty. He tried to move his hands to rub the grit from his eyes and noticed that it felt like he was heavy, tethered to something. He slowly tried to open his eyes; the bright light made him shut them again almost as soon as he had cracked them open. Knowing now what to expect, he slowly opened them again, anticipating the pounding headache he knew would be coming.

He gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the bright light before looking around. He was in a hospital bed. The tether on his arm: just the IV and a cast. The weight on his chest was a red head. Van Pelt was resting her head on his chest, as if to keep him in bed or to make sure he didn't disappear.

He opened his mouth to talk before realizing that the cotton ball feel made his mouth so dry that speaking was almost impossible. Instead of calling to her, he used his unfettered hand to gently stroke her soft red hair. This slight movement seemed to cause her to remember where she was and who she was with and her head shot up form where it had been resting.

"Jane? Oh, Jane! You're awake. How are you feeling?" She asked, concern evident in her voice. He pantomimed water to her, trying to indicate that he needed something to drink. "Are you thirsty? I don't know if you can drink anything. Um, let me get the doctor."

She left the room and Jane was alone. He tried to remember what he had done to end up in the hospital. He remembered bits and pieces—blood, lots of blood, and Lisbon. Lisbon was bleeding. He had to find Lisbon. Where was she? Red John had killed her, but she had shot Red John. Was she alive? But there was so much blood.

His thoughts weren't making any sense to him and he could feel his heart beat speeding up as panic began to set in. It seemed as if Van Pelt had been gone forever, although it had only been a few seconds, when the doctor and a team of nurses came bustling into the suddenly tiny hospital room. He had to get out. He had to find Lisbon. She couldn't be dead. He would rather be dead himself than have to go through the rest of his life without her. The fear, the not knowing, was worse than the pain he had felt on finding the bodies of his wife and child that fateful night.

"Mr. Jane, you need to calm down. You are safe here. Nothing can hurt you here." The doctor was talking to him, but Jane wasn't listening. He didn't care about himself. He wanted Lisbon. Why wasn't she here? There had been so much blood. So much blood. And Red John and said he killed her. But she shot him. She hadn't been dead. "Prepare the sedative. This much stress isn't good for him."

Jane heard the doctor speaking to one of the nurses. He couldn't have a sedative. He needed to keep his mind clear and focused. He needed to be awake to know what happened to Lisbon. He struggled against his inner turmoil, struggling to calm his erratic breathing and racing heart. It only took a few seconds for him to accomplish it, putting up the mask that he wore constantly, not wanting the doctors to know it wasn't himself he was concerned about.

One of the nurses held a straw up to him and Jane took a long drink of the cool water, feeling the chill enter his bones and allowing it to cool him slightly as it washed away the parched feeling in his mouth and throat. He let the nurses and doctors look him over, not saying anything until they had left again, leaving him alone with Van Pelt.

"Lisbon." He croaked out, trying to make the one word convey all of the pain and fear that he felt. It didn't escape his attention that Van Pelt wouldn't meet his gaze.

"She lost a lot of blood." She said, still not looking at him, wanting to avoid his gaze and the piercing eyes. "She wasn't breathing when Cho and Rigsby found you guys. You were unconscious, a concussion, three broken ribs and your hand. The doctor says you may need surgery. When the swelling goes down they'll be able to tell for sure. Red John was shot. From where he was lying and where the gun was, we're pretty sure Lisbon shot him before…" Her voice faltered. Jane didn't want to risk his voice trying to talk. He could tell that it was hard for her to talk about it. He could feel a lump forming in his throat and wished he could have more of that cooling water.

"He's out of surgery now. He's in a coma. The doctors don't know when he's going to wake up, but he'll be charged with murder when he does." She paused again, not knowing how to continue. "Lisbon wasn't breathing when Cho and Rigsby got there." Her voice cracked and her eyes got wet with tears that she had thought were done falling. "She wasn't breathing and they started CPR. It took so long for the paramedics to get there and she had lost so much blood. It looked like Red John had beaten her as well as stabbing her at least three times, twice in the stomach, and once in the arm."

She stopped again, trying to control her emotions. Jane felt burning tears falling from his eyes. She was dead. He knew it. His one reason for living and she was gone. Red John had been captured, but at what cost? The woman who had loved him, not for his money or his charm, but in spite of them. He didn't want to go on living without her in his life. He didn't notice that Van Pelt had started speaking again and started to pay attention.

"…Cho's B- and I'm A+, but Rigsby's O- so he's been down trying to convince them that he'll give as much blood as they need for her. She's still in surgery. They haven't told us if she's going to make it or not, but we didn't want you to wake up alone so we've been taking shifts."

Wait, did she say that Lisbon was still in surgery? Did that mean that she was alive? That she was going to make it? He jerked his head towards the hall way as he heard heavy footsteps running down the hall. He heard a nurse calling out to slowdown and to leave that man alone, but the feet obviously didn't listen because not 10 seconds later Rigsby burst into his room, an idiotic grin on his face.

"She's out of surgery! They think she's going to make it!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, the last chapter. I'm sad to see it end, but it has been fun. Thanks to all who read and especially to those who reviewed. And a extra special thanks to Ebony10 for not only being my beta, but for giving advice and encouragement. This would have stalled back in the beginning if it wasn't for her.

It had taken him over two hours, but he had finally managed to convince his nurse that he was ok to get out of bed and go for a walk. He'd been trying to convince her that he didn't need to be in the hospital at all, but apparently his broken hand was going to need surgery to set right so he had to stay in the hospital at least over night.

He slowly made his way towards the ICU, dragging his IV stand behind him. He hurt, his head was pounding, his arm was throbbing, and he was walking with a limp, but none of that was important. He had convinced Grace to go home hours ago, only after promising her that she could come back in the morning to check on him before he went into surgery. He knew that the young agent hadn't been sleeping well since this whole thing started and he hoped the assurance that he and Lisbon were fine would be enough to entice her to sleep.

Jane finally realized the flaw in his plan when he reached the wing housing the ICU. He had failed to ask what room Lisbon was going to be in. Hoping that the nurses wouldn't ask him any uncomfortable questions, he walked up to the nurses' station and spoke with the nurse at the desk.

"I'd like to know what room Agent Lisbon is in, please." He tried his best to show her is charming smile, but knew it was falling short.

"You're one of the men that was brought in here with her? I'm not sure I should be telling you. One of you was supposed to have tried to kill her." He tried to decide if the nurse was messing with him or just doing her job.

"Please, I just need to make sure she's really alive. There was so much blood and she was unconscious…"His voice faltered at the memory.

"It's ok, dear. Room 118. There's a cop posted outside the door so don't try any funny business." Jane nodded and slowly made his way to the room. He nodded by way of greeting to the officer posted outside her room. He recognized him from the slew of cops that had been at Lisbon's apartment just the night before.

He went into her room and just stood there, looking at her for a few minutes before pulling a chair up to the side of her bed. He gently took her hand in his, being careful to avoid the wires that seemed to be coming from all over her body.

"I'm sorry, Teresa. I never meant for you to get hurt. I just wanted us to both be happy. I love you so much. I just never wanted you to get hurt."

He sat there holding her hand, stroking the parts that weren't covered in tape and wires and finally letting his eyes drift closed. He knew that as long as he was touching her, she would be ok.

Cho was sitting in his boss' office. It felt like an invasion of privacy, but something had been bothering him. Now that Red John was in custody, or rather in the hospital in handcuffs, and Jane and Lisbon were both on the mend, he was going to figure it out.

Lisbon had gotten a large envelope of pictures that she said was from Red John, but there had been no note, no smiley face. She had to have been hiding something, that wasn't like her. He needed to make sure that whatever it was hadn't played a role in her injuries or in her neighbor's death.

He felt guilty going through the drawers in her desk, but knew that he needed to look and see anyway. He checked all the drawers, went through the filing cabinets, and then stared at the one remaining thing for him to look through.

He hadn't noticed that she had forgotten her work bag in the office the night before, but there it sat, under her desk, waiting her him to look through it. He pulled it out and sat it on her desk, looking at it. He was still looking at it when Rigsby walked by and stopped in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a stage whisper. He quickly looked around the hallway to make sure no one was near before stepping into the office.

"Lisbon was hiding something. I think it had to do with the case. I was looking for it." His expression gave away none of his trepidation at the prospect of going through Lisbon's personal belongings.

"In her purse?"

"It's not her purse. It's her work bag." Rigsby just stared at him; to him it was the same thing, a woman's bag. Who knew what was in there? He sat across from Cho and took up staring at the bag. They had both finished the paperwork that they needed to for the case. They had finished it quickly, wanting to be able to get back to the hospital and their injured colleagues. But instead, they were sitting here staring at a bag.

It was the sight of the two men in the office that made Van Pelt stop and enter Lisbon's office. "What are you guys doing?"

"We're waiting to look in Lisbon's bag to see if there's something in there that would explain her odd behavior the last few days." Cho said in his usual monotone.

"You mean besides being stalked by a serial killer?" Van Pelt was clearly amused at the inability of the two men to open a bag. "Here, let me look."

She went over to the desk and quickly flipped through the contents. There didn't look to be anything interesting in it until she came to the last stack of paper. Pulling out the group of photos, she gasped. "Oh my…"

"What? What is it?" Rigsby asked, coming to stand next to her, but Van Pelt quickly pulled the pictures against her chest.

"Let's just say that I know who the man and the woman in the first picture that Red John left are."

It had been just over three weeks since that night, that horrible fateful night. She had been in the hospital the whole time and it was starting to drive her crazy. Jane had been there almost the whole time. He had managed to talk his way into staying with Lisbon in her room while he was still in the hospital himself.

He had pins and plates put into his hand to set the bones. The doctors told him that if he hadn't tried to drive and then gotten into a kick-down, drag-out fight, he wouldn't have needed surgery, but Jane didn't mind. In his mind it had been worth it.

Red John had healed and less than a week after Lisbon shot him, he was transferred to the medical ward at a nearby prison to await trial for all the murders he had committed. Lisbon was occasionally upset that she hadn't been able to kill him, but considering how much blood she had lost, it was pretty amazing that she had been able to wake up long enough to keep him from killing Jane.

Lisbon's injuries had been a little more severe. The wounds to her stomach had been what had kept her in the hospital all this time. After Jane had been released, he had spent his every waking moment with her. Or so it seemed. There were times when he wasn't there and, as much as it surprised her, she missed him.

As happy as she was to be getting out of the hospital today, she was still apprehensive. She didn't think she would be afraid to go back to her own apartment. After all, they had caught Red John. He was going to rot in jail.

Van Pelt showed up to drive Lisbon back to her apartment, which surprised her. She had thought for sure that Jane would be the one to pick her up, but he hadn't been at the hospital all morning. Not that she minded. She had tried awfully hard to push him away, but still they had been getting closer during her stay in the hospital. Not that they weren't before, but even before, there were things she wouldn't have shared with him. Now, well, she didn't think there was any question of his that she wouldn't answer.

Grace hadn't stayed long when she dropped her off. Just long enough to make sure she didn't need anything before leaving. Lisbon sighed, sitting down on the sofa. She was alone. In her apartment, next door to where her neighbor had been killed by the same man who had tried to kill her.

She heard the doorknob rattling and had to fight the fear that rose in her. She was just trying to figure out what had happened to her gun (it had been cleared and according to Van Pelt waiting for her at her apartment) when the door opened and she heard the sound of something dropping followed by an all too familiar voice cursing mildly in the doorway.

"I thought I took away your key, Jane." Lisbon said, smiling.

"You were going to, but I distracted you." Jane replied, setting the rest of what had been in his hands onto the ground by the door and making his way over to the sofa. "Welcome home." He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before sitting next to her.

"I'm glad to be out of the hospital. I thought you were going to be picking me up." She picked up his hand idly, drawing lazy circles on the back with her fingers.

"I had some errands to run. I was hoping to be here when you got here, but I guess Van Pelt dropped you off a little early."

"So what are you doing here?" She looked over at him, noticing that he couldn't look her in the face.

"I almost lost you." He whispered. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"I know." She whispered back to him. "I heard you, in your house, when you were fighting with Red John." She felt embarrassed for no reason at admitting that she had heard him arguing with Red John, had heard him telling Red John that she was his reason to be alive, that she was the one who had helped him move on.

"Oh." Was all that he said. They sat there in silence for a few more minutes, just enjoying each other's presence.

"I didn't mean to push you away, Jane. You know that, right? I was scared and I wanted to protect you. I wanted to make sure nothing bad would—" Jane pressed his lips to hers, stopping her speech.

"I know." He said, pulling away. "I was just trying to protect you, too. It looks like we both did a bang up job of it." They shared a chuckle.

"What were you bringing in just now? Seemed pretty heavy, or awkward." Lisbon asked, turning her head to look at the door.

"Everything is awkward." He mumbled, holding up his hand. "Um, just some of my things." He said, uncharacteristically avoiding her eyes.

"Some of your things? What? Are you moving in with me?" She asked teasingly.

"Maybe."

"OK, well, I'm kind of attached to my guest room. My brother's coming to visit for a few days so you'll have to share a bed, I hope that's ok."

"I don't really want to share a bed with your brother."

"Who said anything about my brother? There are two bedrooms here after all." She looked at him suggestively.

"Are you saying you want me to move back in with you, to actually live with you?" He asked, moving slightly closer.

"I never wanted you to leave." She said before pressing her lips to his.

And Jane was never going to. No matter what.


End file.
